301 research outputs found

    Blockchain's adoption in IoT: The challenges, and a way forward

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    © 2018 Elsevier Ltd The underlying technology of Bitcoin is blockchain, which was initially designed for financial value transfer only. Nonetheless, due to its decentralized architecture, fault tolerance and cryptographic security benefits such as pseudonymous identities, data integrity and authentication, researchers and security analysts around the world are focusing on the blockchain to resolve security and privacy issues of IoT. However, presently, not much work has been done to assess blockchain's viability for IoT and the associated challenges. Hence, to arrive at intelligible conclusions, this paper carries out a systematic study of the peculiarities of the IoT environment including its security and performance requirements and progression in blockchain technologies. We have identified the gaps by mapping the security and performance benefits inferred by the blockchain technologies and some of the blockchain-based IoT applications against the IoT requirements. We also discovered some practical issues involved in the integration of IoT devices with the blockchain. In the end, we propose a way forward to resolve some of the significant challenges to the blockchain's adoption in IoT

    What is a Blockchain? A Definition to Clarify the Role of the Blockchain in the Internet of Things

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    The use of the term blockchain is documented for disparate projects, from cryptocurrencies to applications for the Internet of Things (IoT), and many more. The concept of blockchain appears therefore blurred, as it is hard to believe that the same technology can empower applications that have extremely different requirements and exhibit dissimilar performance and security. This position paper elaborates on the theory of distributed systems to advance a clear definition of blockchain that allows us to clarify its role in the IoT. This definition inextricably binds together three elements that, as a whole, provide the blockchain with those unique features that distinguish it from other distributed ledger technologies: immutability, transparency and anonimity. We note however that immutability comes at the expense of remarkable resource consumption, transparency demands no confidentiality and anonymity prevents user identification and registration. This is in stark contrast to the requirements of most IoT applications that are made up of resource constrained devices, whose data need to be kept confidential and users to be clearly known. Building on the proposed definition, we derive new guidelines for selecting the proper distributed ledger technology depending on application requirements and trust models, identifying common pitfalls leading to improper applications of the blockchain. We finally indicate a feasible role of the blockchain for the IoT: myriads of local, IoT transactions can be aggregated off-chain and then be successfully recorded on an external blockchain as a means of public accountability when required

    Dignitas: uso de reputação como moeda para avaliar a sensorização humana em cidades inteligentes

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    We live in an increasingly digital world, where Smart Cities have become a reality. One of the characteristics that make these cities smart is their ability to gather information and act upon it, improving their citizens lives. In this work, we present our system, Dignitas. A blockchain-based reputation system that allows citizens of a Smart City to assess the truthiness of information posted by other citizens. This assessment is based on a bet that reporters make, and all of those who agreed with him, that puts their gathered reputation at stake. This use of Reputation as a currency is a novel idea that allowed us to build an anonymous system. Using blockchain we were able to have multiple authorities, working with each other to make the system secure and thus avoiding centralized schemes. Our work was focused on developing our idea, a proof of concept, and testing the viability of our new solution.Vivemos num mundo cada vez mais digital, onde as cidades inteligentes passaram a ser uma realidade. Uma das características que permite a estas cidades serem inteligentes é a capacidade de adquirir informação e agir sobre ela, melhorando a vida de todos os cidadãos. Neste trabalho apresentamos o nosso sistema, Dignitas, um sistema de reputação baseado numa blockchain que permite aos cidadãos de uma cidade inteligente avaliar informação relatada por outras pessoas. Esta avaliação é baseada numa aposta feita pelo relator, e por todos os que com ele concordam, em que põe em risco parte da sua Reputação no sistema. Este uso da Reputação como uma moeda é o que nos permite construir um sistema anónimo. O uso de uma blockchain permite-nos ter múltiplas autoridades responsáveis, evitando por isso o uso de esquemas centralizados. O nosso trabalho focou-se em desenvolver a nossa ideia, uma prova de conceito, e testar a viabilidade desta nossa nova solução.Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e Telemátic

    A Framework for Standardization of Distributed Ledger Technologies for Interoperable Data Integration and Alignment in Sustainable Smart Cities

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    Distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) are considered one of the foremost emerging technologies which can contribute to transform cities to smarter cities. DLT play important role in municipalities to accelerate the digitalization process toward changing the roles and services of enterprises in sustainable smart cities. Standardization of DLTs aids to reduce data and digital assets silos while decreasing vendor lock-in across distributed applications enabling a digital urban ecosystem that supports migration capabilities making it possible for cities to seamlessly achieve interoperability among DLTs and centralized digital platforms, although a few standards such as IEEE 2418, IEEE P2418.5, and ISO/TC 307 have been developed. The alignment and integration mechanisms required to support standardization of DLT for interoperable services in smart cities is lacking. Therefore, this study presents an understanding on current and open issues on standardization of DLTs in sustainable smart cities with a specific focus on data integration and alignment efforts related to interoperable DLTs. A framework is developed to promote standardization of DLTs to support integration and alignment for interoperability in smart cities. Design science research methodology was adopted based on three use case scenarios which illustrates how IOTA tangle is employs as a DLT for secured standardized communication between physical sensors, devices, and digital platforms in smart city environment. Findings from this article provide exploratory evidence demonstrating the potential uses of IOTA tangle through the developed framework applied for decentralized and centralized digital services. Based on this evidence, this study provides interface integration and alignment strategies to better exploit distributed applications full potential by improving DLT standardization in urban environment.publishedVersio

    DIGITAL ASSETS TRANSMISSION BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONS: MUSIC INDUSTRY CASE

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    This research addresses the following experiences as a contribution to the topic of Blockchain applications. First, the modeling of a Music Industry revenue distribution problem. Second, the Integration of Blockchain platforms and Legacy software. Third, the design of an algorithm that solves the distribution of Digital Assets across organizations within the Music Industry. Ultimately, the analysis of the Performance of Blockchain platforms (Ethereum and Hyperledger) in terms of Latency and Throughput. Additionally, the purpose of the research is to show that the modeling of a Music Industry payment system is possible using Blockchain Technology. Therefore, the old business model of the Music Industry, which possessed flaws and inefficiencies, could potentially change into a trustless environment benefiting all the participants y paying their contributions instantaneously. Moreover, the necessity of a solution is reinforced by an internship experienced in a MITACS project in conjunction with a company called Membran to design and implement a Blockchain solution that shortens the gap between Spotify and the payment to the Labels and Artists. The system distributes value by automatically calculating payments whenever the Digital Assets (Music Tracks revenue) are imported. The application defines specific roles and variables to simulate the Music Industry. For example, Distributors as an entry point and Artists at the end of the chain. Although, any participant within the network can create agreements and benefit from the distribution. The implementation of this research took the Hyperledger Composer framework to use the Hyperledger Fabric Blockchain as the Private Distributed Ledger, and the public Blockchain Ethereum with the Ganache Client for development purposes. Extensive research of the strengths and weaknesses of these technologies included the descriptions of features like the consensus algorithms, modular architectures, and smart contracts. Ultimately, the performance of these technologies compared Hyperledger Composer and Ethereum in terms of Latency and Throughput. The conclusion of this research pointed that Hyperledger Composer with features like the role-based architecture for applications, Programmable ChainCode (Smart Contracts), and Business Network Definitions, is better suitable for modeling customized solutions and outperforms Ethereum in terms of performance when testing the same number of transactions, the same logic of the chain code and the same machine environment

    Blockchain for Cities—A Systematic Literature Review

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    Blockchain is considered one of the most disruptive technologies of our time. Numerous cities around the world are launching blockchain initiatives as part of the overall efforts toward shaping the urban future. However, the infancy stage of the blockchain industry leads to a severe gap between the knowledge we have and the actions urban policy makers are taking. This paper is an effort to narrow this rift. We provide a systematic literature review on concrete blockchain use cases proposed by the research community. At the macro-level, we discuss and organize use cases from 159 selected papers into nine sectors recognized as crucial for sustainable and smart urban future. At the micro-level, we identify a component-based framework and analyze the design and prototypes of blockchain systems studied in a subset of 71 papers. The high-level use case review allows us to illustrate the relationship between them and the four pillars of urban sustainability: social, economic, environmental, and governmental. The system level analysis helps us highlight interesting inconsistencies between well-known blockchain applicability decision rules and the approaches taken by the literature. We also offer two classification methodologies for blockchain use cases and elaborate on how they can be applied to stimulate cross-sector insights in the blockchain knowledge domain
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